The book was described as 'sensationalistic and not very factual'. James Donnelly”, effectively murdering them again. James Reaney, citing Alfred Scott Garrett, states that Kelley 'totally misportrayed Mr. However successful the books were, they were denounced as grossly inaccurate. Another source states 400,000 copies in 22 editions were sold. The Black Donnellys is reputed to be the Harlequin book with the most printings, with 15 printings of two editions between April 1954 and April 1968. He later followed with The Curse of the Black Donnellys, a fictionalized account of the vengeful vendetta undertaken by Francis Donnelly, one of the surviving members of the family on those responsible for the massacre of his parents and siblings, and finally, The Donnelly Family Album, which detailed the genealogy of the Donnellys of Crossmeglin Township, Armagh County, Ireland, their emigration to Canada in the mid-1830s, and subsequent massacre of five of their family members on February 4, 1880. He is most noted for The Black Donnellys. Kelley claimed that when began a novel he had no idea how it would end, and had used 30 pseudonyms. Kelley claimed to be ‘king of the Canadian pulp writers’ and ‘the fastest author in the East’. He was the author of some two-dozen paperback books, largely of the true-crime variety. He wrote many stories for Uncanny Tales, a Canadian pulp magazine.

In 1937 (age 27) he began his prolific pulp writing career, with a sale to Weird Tales. Thomas Patrick Kelley (1910 – 1982) was a Canadian author notable for three books on the infamous Black Donnellys of Lucan, Ontario.īorn at Campbellford, Ontario, he journeyed with his father's medicine show, then boxed professionally.

The black donnellys thomas p kelley